The present invention pertains to the art of refrigeration and, more particularly, to a cold plate shelf assembly for use in a refrigerator.
In a typical refrigerator, food items are supported on transparent glass shelves. Although the use of glass allows light to pass through the shelves such that food items throughout the refrigerator are more readily visible, glass is not as thermally conductive as certain other materials, such as metals. As a result, a glass shelf will not help cool a food item placed thereon to the same degree that a metal shelf would, for example. In certain situations, refrigerator shelves do not need to be made from glass to provide sufficient light throughout a refrigerator. For example, lights can be incorporated into the refrigerator shelves, as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,338,180, such that light is provided to the area below each shelf. Furthermore, light does not need to pass through every shelf of a refrigerator. For example, it is often not necessary for light to pass through the bottommost shelf of a refrigerator or through a shelf located above a drawer.
In view of the above, it is considered beneficial to provide non-glass shelves that help chill food items placed thereon in situations where transparent glass shelves are not needed for sufficient light to be provided within a refrigerator. Preferably, the non-glass shelves are cooled not just by the standard circulation of cool air within the refrigerator but also by an additional cooling means so that food items placed on the shelves are chilled more quickly.